Not Quite A Humdinger

Ashley and I were hoping we could both participate in today's St. Thomas youth outing to the Smokies even though it was a repeat of a past Humdinger Hike. She wasn't able to join us, but we did run into some familiar faces along the way. You can read about the hike here.

Watch Out!

We actually did this hike on June 27th, but Fr. Christian and I are both very busy people with no time for blogging!

This was our biggest hike thus far, in terms of the number of people who came with us. Our friends Tony, Mark, Ken, and Anthony (Fr. Christian's nephew) came along for the 7.5 mile Round Top trail.

In keeping with FC's favorite phrase, "There is no adequate substitute for an early start!", we hit the trail at about 8:30a.m. We left one car at the river end of the trail and took the other car to the trail head farther up. Keep in mind that you can hike Round Top with one car, but you will have to loop back to get to it.

I noticed that the trail ends at a favorite watering hole, for tourists and natives of Tennessee alike. There was no one there when we started hiking. In fact, the entire hike we didn't see anybody but our own shadows and each other on the trail! It is my understanding that this trail isn't very well known.

The weather in East Tennessee has been extremely hot and muggy as of late, but that Sunday morning, it didn't feel too bad. The trail is mostly under the tree cover, and we were fortunate enough to have a nice breeze the entire time.

Our group was split in 2 parties for most of the hike. You hike your own hike, as FC likes to remind me. So Mark, Tony, and myself were out in front of the others by a few minutes.

The only annoyance from the actual hike was the incredible amount of spiderwebs that we ran into. Since I wasn't with FC's group during the hike, I don't how terrible their experience was if they even had the same problem as the 3 of us did. I for sure can tell you that Tony, Mark, and I ran into a lot of webs. Only a few of them had spiders sitting in them...or so we told ourselves when we couldn't find the spiders on ourselves.

I know, I know...we were outside in the woods. That fact still doesn't make me feel better! Mark and I hate spiders, though I believe my loathing for arachnids is much stronger than his. The 3 of us took turns leading, meaning that we took turns taking the brunt of the web assault. I caught a couple of them, mostly little ones. After the second really big nasty web, I decided that I was done. Mark and Tony took turns the rest of the way, but after Mark got a good one, Tony was out front for the rest of the hike.

He miraculously found the spiderwebs before he ran into them. I guess I pay more attention to the ground than what's in front of me. I'm just thankful for Tony's uncanny avoiding spiderweb ability. The ones he found before we ran into them had monstrous spiders sitting in them, so we just ducked under or grabbed a stick to move them out of the way.

The other interesting thing happened after we finished the hike. The trail ends at the Little River, where you have to cross (unless you turn around and loop back to your car). We got there and played (that was mostly me) and waded in the water, trying not to fall in. Some of us were successful, others not so much.

I didn't realize how popular of a swimming hole the area was until that hike. We sort of appeared out of nowhere to the bathers as we popped out of the barely discernible trail in the forest behind the beach. There was an interesting demographic of East Tennessee and surrounding states (judging by the license plates in the parking lot later on) presented in all their bathing suit glory. The river was full of pool toys, screaming children, and tubers.

The tubers were actually a little rude. The mentality I got from them was that they were more important, that everyone had to get out of their way. "Tubers coming through! Tubers coming through!" shouted one girl as she barreled towards me. I got more than annoyed. I was standing in front of a pile of rocks that were not submerged. She should have been watching out for me and my rocks! You could clearly see them. I have been tubing before, and I know that you can steer yourself.

That girl apparently didn't realize that fact because I had to step back, nearly falling in to get out of her way. She then proceeded to hit the pile of rocks that I was standing near. I just smiled. Mark avoided a terrible situation of being mowed over. He introduced himself to the woman who was heading right towards him and proceeded to push her away before she could knock him over.

We all made it across the river, mostly unscathed. I got a wonderful view of a lady's backside (look to the bottom left of the picture...and that is just the cropped version). Mark fell in...albeit, before we decided to cross, but he fell in nonetheless.

Afterward, as I complained about tubers and spiderwebs being in the way, Mark had an interesting thought. We, though we didn't enjoy the tubers or their attitudes, were kind of like the tubers when we ran into the spiders and their webs. The spiders were there first, staking their claim. We barreled, accidentally, through them much like the tubers nearly mowed us over. The spiders were just as annoyed with us as we were with the tubers.

All in all, Round Top is a great trail. It's quiet until the end at the river crossing. If you go on a day with great weather, I'm sure you will enjoy yourself. I certainly will make this hike again.

Just make sure to watch out for spiders and tubers!

Wet Rocks Are Slippery

Of course it is obvious that wet rocks are slippery, but I like to emphasize and reiterate important information.

This hike was a lot of fun, in spite of the ominous clouds and humidity. It rained on the way up, but it only rained for a short while when we were actually on the trail. I might make this hike again with friends as part of our summer hanging out. There were also an awful lot of tempting swimming holes along the way...

Jakes Creek, Cucumber Gap, and Little River trails were relatively flat. The only noticeable incline was the first 0.3 mile jaunt. Even so, with a bum leg I was hurting at the end of the hike. Hopefully, this funky ligament isn't a permanent nuisance.

If you're hoping to keep your feet dry, whether professional or beginner hiker, then this little loop may not be for you. There are several stream crossings, and if you are anything like me, well, you could get a little wet.

Luckily, I never fell in. At one point though, I almost lost it. As Fr. Christian was climbing up the bank, I literally danced/skated across the hardest crossing. Wet rocks are slippery, I knew that. Having that knowledge doesn't prepare you for flying across a stream, but that's basically what I did. When I landed on the other side, my bum leg/ligament wasn't very happy, but the rest of me was because I didn't fall in! I don't know how it happened.

Stay dry folks!

Here Comes The Sun

This morning I awoke to the sound of rain outside my window. Usually this would be a soothing sound, especially on a holiday when I could sleep in. Today it was the last thing I wanted to hear as I prepared for the second hike of the Humdinger Project. Not to be discouraged, I decided to wear a hat from Sundog Outfitters in Damascus, Virginia. It seemed like a good way to inspire the sun to come out to play. As Ashley and I drove toward the Smokies the rain continued to fall. The closer we got to our destination, the harder it seemed to rain.

One lesson I have learned from both the Smokies and the Appalachian Trail is that you can't control the weather, you just have to accept it. The other thing that I always try to keep in mind about the Smokies, even on days when the sun is shining at home, is that it is a rainforest. There is always the possibility of rain.

Oddly enough today, the vast majority of rain was what we experienced on the drive to the park. All the trails were damp from earlier rain, but there was really only about five minutes of actual rain on the hike today. Almost as soon as the rain had begun, it stopped and out came the sun and blue skies. The power of the Sundog showed forth clearly today.


We began the hike with a short section of Jakes Creek Trail and continued on to Cucumber Gap Trail. Cucumber Gap is a fairly easy trail with gentle ups and downs with one moderately difficult stream crossing. The majority of our hike today was on the Little River Trail. The Little River is actually pretty big when compared to many other rivers and streams in the Smokies. This trail too is a relatively easy hike that follows the river closely. The only difficulties we encountered on our hike of the Little River Trail were the several stream crossings, which were especially difficult near Campsite 30.


Rain did not discourage us today and as a result we had a sunny hike on soggy ground.